QX3 Time-Lapse Movie Gallery

Potassium Thiocyanate

This inorganic chemical is sometimes used as a hypotensive agent in the pharmaceutical industry. Commercial uses include the manufacture of artificial mustard oil, dyeing textiles, and in photography as an intensifier. When recrystallized from the melt, potassium thiocyanate will slowly crystallize, forming beautiful dendritic needle-like crystals. The time-lapse movie was made using a modified version of the Intel Play QX3 microscope equipped for polarized light illumination with a full-wave (first order) retardation plate.